Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro pardons opposition MPs
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has pardoned more than 100 MPs and associates of opposition leader Juan Guaido.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has pardoned more than 100 MPs and associates of opposition leader Juan Guaido “in the interests of promoting national reconciliation”.
Mr Guaido’s assistant Roberto Marrero and MPs Gilber Caro and Renzo Prieto were among the names read out by Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez live on state television. The three were released in Caracas just hours after the announcement.
Mr Marrero was arrested in March last year and accused of being part of a “terrorist cell” planning attacks to destabilise the Maduro government.
“Freedom is always welcome, whatever people might say,” he said as he left intelligence service headquarters.
Mr Guaido was not among those pardoned. He insisted that Mr Maduro’s government was using the pardons “as trading pieces” to “legitimise a farce”, referring to upcoming legislative elections. “It is a trap and we are not going to fall for it,” he wrote on Twitter, emphasising that “you cannot pardon those already innocent”.
Opposition MP Freddy Guevara, who fled to the Chilean embassy in the capital Caracas in 2017 after leading anti-government protests that left 125 people dead, was among those pardoned. The Supreme Court — which has been accused of pandering to the regime — ordered that he be denied the freedom to leave the country.
“Pardon or insult, Maduro is neither president, nor am I a criminal,” wrote Americo De Grazia, an MP living in exile.
“If you (Maduro) want to contribute to peace in Venezuela, pardon the country from the usurpation of power, quit the occupation that has resulted in a tragedy inflicted on our people and maybe then we’ll have something to thank you for.”
Mr Maduro’s 2018 re-election was widely seen as fraudulent.
In January 2019, Mr Guaido launched a challenge to Mr Maduro’s authority by declaring himself acting president.
AFP
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